Guoshanhuang
|Reported = 2014 (western reports) |Researchers = Liu Minzhuang}} The guoshanhuang (过山黄; Chinese: "the yellow thing that lives among the mountain ranges") is a cryptid felid reported from 's Shennonjia Forestry District and Huping Mountains. It resembles a large sabre-toothed cat with yellowish fur and horizontal stripes. Shuker, Karl ShukerNature: A WHITE SABRE-TOOTH ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN CHINA? karlshuker.blogspot.com 26 January 2019 Another cryptid felid of China, the shanbiao ("mountain biao") has sometimes been considered the subadult form of the guoshanhuang. Description The guoshanhuang is said to resemble a South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), but is larger, allegedly up to 13'1'' in length and weighing more than 500 kilograms. It's tail is also thick and rather long, as one 9'8'' individual was reported to have a 3'3'' tail. Its fur is the colour of withered or dead grass, and it is covered in horizontal yellowish stripes, which may be 4'9'' long and 3'8'' wide. It is said to have a longer muzzle than a regular tiger, and, significantly, has a pair of long, downward-curved canine teeth. In Chongqing, where there is a tradition of worshipping "extraordinary tiger-like beasts", it is given reverential names such as laobazi ("old sir") and shanwang ("mountain king"). Sightings Undated A guoshanhuang was allegedly once seen near Huanghugang ("yellow tiger port") in Hunan's Huping Mountains. Excepting a white patch on its forehead, this individual was all-yellow. circa 1960's Local hunters in the Huping Mountains are said to have killed a guoshanhuang sometime in the 1960's. The animal's skin covered fully two large Ba'xian tables, but none of the remains seem to have been preserved. 1975 Another guoshanhuang was supposedly shot dead at Liangjiahe Township, Zhushan County, in 1975. Wang Junhua, a member of the local science commission, saw its pelt, but again no remains were preserved. circa 1980's In the 1980's, Liu Minzhuang collected reports of the guoshanhuang from residents of Songbai Township in the Shennongjia Forestry District. Several eyewitnesses came forward with stories of either seeing or hearing the animal. 1994 In May 1994, Wang Benyou, Yin Benshun, and four others were trekking through the montane forests of Laojun Peak, the tallest mountain in Shennongjia, when Wang smelled a strong animal odour. Shortly afterwards he caught a glimpse of a large cat about five metres away from him. It appeared to be a tiger and was about 9'8'' long, but was covered in light horizontal stripes and had "robust canine teeth". The cat stared at Wang and threateningly bared these teeth at him, prompting him to slowly walk about ten metres away, before turning and running.神秘的巨型中国虎【过山黄】专题【神秘动物学吧】_百度贴吧 Theories Tiger Liu Minzhuang speculated that the guoshanhuang could be a new subspecies of Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). Between the early 1950's and the early 1980's, very large tigers were reported from the same range as the guoshanghuang: in 1955, famed tiger hunter Chen Qifang allegedly shot a 500 kilogram tiger in Hunan. David C. Xu suggests that the guoshanhuang and these tigers could be a relative of the very large fossil tigers known from Pleistocene China. An examination of fossils found in Chonqing in 1947 suggested that the animals were larger and thicker than modern tigers, including in carnassial tooth proportion. Sabre-toothed cat With its long canines, the guoshanhuang bears a distinct resemblance to the sabre-toothed cats. According to David C. Xu, Dinofelis cristate, which was found in China, is of particular interest. Xu also notes that nimravids ("false sabre-toothed cats") also grew long canines and assumed large sizes, but they are believed to have gone extinct in the Oligocene, much earlier than true sabre-toothed cats. Several water lions of Central Africa, which many cryptozoologists theorise could be living sabre-toothed cats, are also described as having horizontal stripes, which are not a feature of any known big cat. Creodont A different theory discussed by Xu is that the guoshanhuang could be a living creodont, perhaps a descendant of Sarkastodon or Megistotherium. Sarkastodon is known from Eocene Mongolia and Chinese Inner Mongolia, and may have resembled a bear more than a cat, but had well-developed canine teeth. Megistotherium, the largest creodont and one of the largest mammalian land predators, is known only from Miocene Africa. Notes and references Category:Cryptids Category:Asia Category:China Category:Felids Category:Theory: Mistaken identity Category:Theory: New species Category:Theory: Living fossil - Sabre toothed cat Category:Theory: Living fossil - Creodont Category:1975 Category:1994